Queen's Crown [Romance/Fantasy/Drama/GxB] DEMO UP!

[AntiquedFae]

You are a peach, my dear. I'll PM you when the time comes!

You're too kind. I will be eagerly awaiting your PM then!
And in the meantime, following this thread enthusiastically.

[verysunshine]

1. What do you think of the role-playing possibilities? Do you think the more dialogue options, the better? Or do you think too much could mean that replays would become cumbersome?

I think the role-playing aspects could be enhanced by the number of meaningful dialogue options. If you have dialogue choices that clearly don't mean anything, nobody will care. If I'm invested enough in the story to replay it, I probably want a different story, so replays would not be cumbersome.

2. what do you think of the 2nd person narrative? Too weird or worth giving a shot?

I'm an English major. I live for the weird.

3. Favorite character so far? More info on them can be found HERE, for those interested.

I like Noah's character design and Teiran's personality.

4. The demo will lack a lot of pretty art assets like hand-drawn BGs and CGs. Will this affect your enjoyment?

Nope. Placeholder assets can be great when testing demos.

5. Finally, any requests as far as Kickstarter goals? My own priorities are, in order, MOAR CGs, pretty BGs, customizable MC sprite with different CGs based on preferences, original music, voicing, and additional character route. I'd like to hear what potential players would want to see first!

I'm joining Team "No Voice Acting." Getting voice actors into a studio and having them record the words you wrote requires a whole other set of skills, and can pull resources away from the rest of the game. If you already have the know-how to record voices, disregard me.

If you're going to sell the game, I'd prioritize having original music or licensing tracks from somebody instead of using free Kevin McCloud music. Mind you, my project has a royalty free soundtrack, but it's going to be a free download.

I'm a bit curious about potential backer rewards.

Good luck with your demo!

[victorita9]

1. What do you think of the role-playing possibilities? Do you think the more dialogue options, the better? Or do you think too much could mean that replays would become cumbersome?
I love dialogue options. I do know some people don't like pointless dialogue options that don't add to the story, but I like it.
2. what do you think of the 2nd person narrative? Too weird or worth giving a shot?
I don't particularly care for it, but am willing to try for a demo!
3. Favorite character so far? More info on them can be found HERE, for those interested.
I think the mother is interesting.
4. The demo will lack a lot of pretty art assets like hand-drawn BGs and CGs. Will this effect your enjoyment?
No, I prefer the writing to anything else.
5. Finally, any requests as far as Kickstarter goals? My own priorities are, in order, MOAR CGs, pretty BGs, customizable MC sprite with different CGs based on preferences, original music, voicing, and additional character route. I'd like to hear what potential players would want to see first!
My would like to see additional character routes the most, and voices the least thing(?) I care about. I know one game that took a long time to be released because they were doing voice recordings.

[Agashi]

UPDATE: Added NEW questions to first post!
Writing - I've gotten three more stat events written in addition to what I've been doing with Teiran. (WHY do you give me such a hard time, you red-haired punk?! Noah and Emry never complain when I write meet-cutes with THEM. ) I know I seem to be spreading myself thin, but I find that I write more faithfully when I intersperse the hard stuff with shorter, fun bits. So on stats, I've got 7/18 finished.

Art - The Config menu has been completed by our illustrious GUI artist, and Atomic_Invasion has kindly agreed to work on a promotional banner for the Kickstarter page! So excited to see what he can come up with!

Programming - With the additional art and writing assets, Bonesy has been steadily implementing them, working out the stat-raising gameplay elements, and cleaning up any errors that crop up.

Special thanks to Lyhra, AntiquedFae and Carrotycat for the lovely comments and taking the time to support us!

1. What do you think of the role-playing possibilities? Do you think the more dialogue options, the better? Or do you think too much could mean that replays would become cumbersome?

I think the role-playing aspects could be enhanced by the number of meaningful dialogue options. If you have dialogue choices that clearly don't mean anything, nobody will care. If I'm invested enough in the story to replay it, I probably want a different story, so replays would not be cumbersome.

2. what do you think of the 2nd person narrative? Too weird or worth giving a shot?

I'm an English major. I live for the weird.

3. Favorite character so far? More info on them can be found HERE, for those interested.

I like Noah's character design and Teiran's personality.

4. The demo will lack a lot of pretty art assets like hand-drawn BGs and CGs. Will this affect your enjoyment?

Nope. Placeholder assets can be great when testing demos.

5. Finally, any requests as far as Kickstarter goals? My own priorities are, in order, MOAR CGs, pretty BGs, customizable MC sprite with different CGs based on preferences, original music, voicing, and additional character route. I'd like to hear what potential players would want to see first!

I'm joining Team "No Voice Acting." Getting voice actors into a studio and having them record the words you wrote requires a whole other set of skills, and can pull resources away from the rest of the game. If you already have the know-how to record voices, disregard me.

If you're going to sell the game, I'd prioritize having original music or licensing tracks from somebody instead of using free Kevin McCloud music. Mind you, my project has a royalty free soundtrack, but it's going to be a free download.

I'm a bit curious about potential backer rewards.

Good luck with your demo!

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to comment!
1. Er... I like to think that all of my dialogue options are meaningful, but I see what you mean. My goal is to incorporate dialogue options that alter the story depending on your choice, but some of these differences are subtle to prevent the story from branching out of control, and some of the changes are very gradual. That being said, there are going to be several points in the game - especially with regards to romance - where the story will change dramatically. I hope if you decide to give the game a try, you'll let me know honestly if you think it worked or not.

2. Haha... Ditto.

3. I hope you like a challenge! While I wouldn't label him a Tsundere, Teiran has his ups and downs for sure, especially at first.

4. Good to hear. I'm kind of counting on it

5. And yes, I think I can safely take voice-acting off the table. It really does seem like more trouble than it's worth. As far as music goes, we have a handful of wonderful original compositions from Noyemi K for the demo, and if/when the Kickstarter gets funded, I fully intend to commission more. In fact, I've pretty much decided to factor that into my base budget. It seems like a better idea in the long run over potentially having to tangle with commercial distributing rights and all that jazz.

As far as backer rewards, I know for sure that they will be mostly, if not all, digital. The lowest teir reward will be a digital download of the game itself, while others will include step-by-step walkthroughs, special thanks/credit, opportunities to design characters that will be added to the game, and digital downloads of the game's full OST. I'd like to do something like an artbook in the future, but I'd have no idea where to begin with that... I'd figure something out if there was enough demand, but it's not a sure deal right now.

Thanks again!

1. What do you think of the role-playing possibilities? Do you think the more dialogue options, the better? Or do you think too much could mean that replays would become cumbersome?
I love dialogue options. I do know some people don't like pointless dialogue options that don't add to the story, but I like it.
2. what do you think of the 2nd person narrative? Too weird or worth giving a shot?
I don't particularly care for it, but am willing to try for a demo!
3. Favorite character so far? More info on them can be found HERE, for those interested.
I think the mother is interesting.
4. The demo will lack a lot of pretty art assets like hand-drawn BGs and CGs. Will this effect your enjoyment?
No, I prefer the writing to anything else.
5. Finally, any requests as far as Kickstarter goals? My own priorities are, in order, MOAR CGs, pretty BGs, customizable MC sprite with different CGs based on preferences, original music, voicing, and additional character route. I'd like to hear what potential players would want to see first!
My would like to see additional character routes the most, and voices the least thing(?) I care about. I know one game that took a long time to be released because they were doing voice recordings.

I'm the same way with dialogue options. I like the meaningful ones, but the ones that simply let you define your character or let them say what YOU are thinking about a situation are just as enjoyable for me. Hopefully what I end up writing allows players to do both.

So glad someone likes the mother. She's a very important figure in the story and I'm putting a lot of effort into giving players the chance to really bond with her. You'll have to let me know what you think once you've seen her in the game.

Yeah, I think the character route is going to be very high on my list of stretch goals. It will mean a good size chunk of extra work, but the idea of more content seems to make everyone happy... Thanks for your comment, victorita!

[Amberbaum]

First of all, your game sounds so awesome and promising. And as a fellow old school Bioware (Black Isle ) player I really appreciate the concept of an customizable MC (stats, personality etc.). It makes an VN more into a game than simply a novel with some dialogue choices.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, I should admit up front that I am a very broke bee. I am funding everything out of pocket until the demo, and hoping to fund the rest of the game through kickstarter. Because of this, the demo will likely not include such things as CG art and proper hand-drawn BGs, but rest assured, these things will be added (among lots of other goodies!) after the full release.

Also, this will be a commercial project. I plan to sell it for about $10 when it's complete. "BUT!" you say. "BUT Agashi! Over in the ideas thread, you said it would be free!" Yes, and I'm really sorry to say that so irresponsibly, but I underestimated how much producing the high-quality vision I have in mind would cost, AND how much I enjoy making VNs. In order to create more in the future, I need the funds... BUT! In recognition of the unthinking promise I made on that thread, ANYONE who donates even $2.00 to the project on kickstarter will receive a full copy of the game, plus my heartfelt thanks, no questions asked!

Eh, I think you shouldn't worry about that too much. Presentation-wise your idea looks "marketable" and so does the visuals( gorgeous, gorgeous sprites :3 - please don't go full otome-style). Asking for ten bucks for a game of this size is nothing and I think nobody would be angry with you for deciding to make it commercial. Well, I certainty don't. It takes time and money for it to make, so it is not unreasonable to ask for getting paid for it. I think a game like this can create an interest ( ->7KPP). The question is how do you want to promote your game and how do you want to sell it (steam, itch.io etc.)

1. What kind of princess will you be? Kind and compassionate? Wise and politically savvy? Tempestuous and powerful? Something in-between?

All of it sound good for me. Personally I tend to play good-alignment characters. Think of it of an practical, rational Paladin with a dark/dry humor who tends to swear a bit . I should also note that I'm tired of playing so-called "badass and tough" female MCs. They often end up being described as "fierce", but it boils down of them being noisy, thickheaded, irrational, super selfish and awful playful - like too playful/mischievous (who loves pranks????? Also, FUCK YOU, you boring person. I won't listen to you. Let's PLAYYY.). So basically the typical "pirate heroine". This concept of a heroine character template got milked to death. Tough characters are good, but the way most of them are presented makes them very unlikable to me. My personal favorite female "tough" character is Miranda from Mass Effect and Eiger from Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

2. The masses have spoken! An additional character route has been widely requested! Voting time: Should the extra love interest be another guy, or shall we add a romance-able lady for those so inclined? (To be clear: this will only be added if we reach the stretch goal on KS! Don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high...)

Hm, I'm a straight woman so I prefer an additional male route. I tend not to play female routes since they do mostly nothing to me - even if I paid for them since they come in a package with the male routes. Adding the additional route once you reached the stretch goal sounds very reasonable to me.

3. Any suggestions for Kickstarter rewards? Please keep them digital if possible! So far, I'm thinking: game download, step-by-step walkthrough guide, backer-designed character insert (the degree of customization depending on story elements and possible backer amount), and downloadable OST. Other suggestions are welcome!

All of it sounds good to me. I prefer digital rewards over stuff like t-shirts and other crap like that since it doesn't tempt me one bit to throw more money on the screen.

4. Finally, what are your overall thoughts on the game, so far?

*point at first section of my post* hm...I love fantasy rpg games or otome games who actually have a story besides the lovey-dovey stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love the lovey-dovey stuff. It's just that the most otome games fail to deliver a good story and a believable setting or any form of world-building.

[Lyhra]

Special thanks to Lyhra, AntiquedFae and Carrotycat for the lovely comments and taking the time to support us

Aww *-* This projects just deserve all this attention ^^

First of all, your game sounds so awesome and promising. And as a fellow old school Bioware (Black Isle ) player I really appreciate the concept of an customizable MC (stats, personality etc.). It makes an VN more into a game than simply a novel with some dialogue choices.

[...]

Also, this will be a commercial project. I plan to sell it for about $10 when it's complete. "BUT!" you say. "BUT Agashi! Over in the ideas thread, you said it would be free!" Yes, and I'm really sorry to say that so irresponsibly, but I underestimated how much producing the high-quality vision I have in mind would cost, AND how much I enjoy making VNs. In order to create more in the future, I need the funds... BUT! In recognition of the unthinking promise I made on that thread, ANYONE who donates even $2.00 to the project on kickstarter will receive a full copy of the game, plus my heartfelt thanks, no questions asked!

Eh, I think you shouldn't worry about that too much. Presentation-wise your idea looks "marketable" and so does the visuals( gorgeous, gorgeous sprites :3 - please don't go full otome-style). Asking for ten bucks for a game of this size is nothing and I think nobody would be angry with you for deciding to make it commercial. Well, I certainty don't. It takes time and money for it to make, so it is not unreasonable to ask for getting paid for it. I think a game like this can create an interest ( ->7KPP). The question is how do you want to promote your game and how do you want to sell it (steam, itch.io etc.)

This, this, this and this! I couldn't have said it better.

Now, to the new questionnaire:

1. What kind of princess will you be? Kind and compassionate? Wise and politically savvy? Tempestuous and powerful? Something in-between?
Definitely the politically savvy princess, this is the kind of gameplay I mostly enjoy, everything related to political and social things is so much fun. Although, with this many replayability options, i'll most probably play a different kinds of princess each time.

2. The masses have spoken! An additional character route has been widely requested! Voting time: Should the extra love interest be another guy, or shall we add a romance-able lady for those so inclined? (To be clear: this will only be added if we reach the stretch goal on KS! Don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high...)
I don't go through GxG routes but, that being said, I don't want to be greedy (?) and I think a romance-able lady is a better option as it may make the game more interesting to more people as well as more diverse (if we reach the stretch goal, of course).

3. Any suggestions for Kickstarter rewards? Please keep them digital if possible! So far, I'm thinking: game download, step-by-step walkthrough guide, backer-designed character insert (the degree of customization depending on story elements and possible backer amount), and downloadable OST. Other suggestions are welcome!
For kickstarter rewards some ideas (taken from other kickstarter campaign i've followed) could be: special artwork, artwork of your character with a character of your choice (maybe chibis), a signed thank-you postal, beta access. The character insert is pretty interesting, it could go from a name-drop (like "look Lord/Lady *Your name* has bla bla bla") to an extra character with some dialogue (like someone that bumps into the MC or one of the mains characters and there's some exchange of word) to, even, an ascended extra with their own sprite (?)

4. Finally, what are your overall thoughts on the game, so far?
Well, what more can I say? lol The game presents itself very promising although, of course, i'm trying to control the hype at least until the demo it's released and I can see the gameplay and everything. But yeah I'm really excited, there aren't that many projects with all this features so i'm glad to have found this :3

[Amberbaum]

3. Any suggestions for Kickstarter rewards? Please keep them digital if possible! So far, I'm thinking: game download, step-by-step walkthrough guide, backer-designed character insert (the degree of customization depending on story elements and possible backer amount), and downloadable OST. Other suggestions are welcome!
For kickstarter rewards some ideas (taken from other kickstarter campaign i've followed) could be: .....beta access.....

Oh, yes. I forget to mention that. Thank you for mention it, Lyhra .
A beta access is a really good idea for people to backing a game. It has it pros and cons. The pros are that the beta access player do most - if not - all bug/spelling hunting for you and can give you immediately feedback on new content. Which leads me to the cons : You will have to deal with..... hm... some demanding people(who are also make sure to remind you that they gave you money . "You should do this/you should do that. I don't like this/This offends me. Fix it/Take it out." My experience so far with beta access player is that most of them are nice and understanding, so if you think something needs to stay this way because it makes sense to your story, than that's okay.

On another note, I forgot to mention that I like sensible MCs. It's always very frustrating if the MC is very dense and clueless. Guessing half of the story, who is who isn't much fun when your MC just goes "Eh??? No way! I couldn't have known!" ->*Looking at you Dragon Age: Origins, Human Noble Origin*. Another thing that has been milked to death especially by Otome games. Sorry, but this kinda puts me off .

[Agashi]

UPDATE:

Happy Valentine's Day all! As far as the writing goes, I've completed another three stat raising events, bringing the total up to 10/18. I'm going to push out a couple more tomorrow before finally returning to finish the first half of Teiran's route.

On the programming front, Bonesy has coded in the new material, including the new options screen. There are a few bugs to work out, but he's looking into them.

First of all, your game sounds so awesome and promising. And as a fellow old school Bioware (Black Isle ) player I really appreciate the concept of an customizable MC (stats, personality etc.). It makes an VN more into a game than simply a novel with some dialogue choices.

Thank you, Amberbaum! I'm jazzed that a fellow old school Bioware fan is interested in VNs and specifically mine! To also answer the second part of your post, I do plan to release the game on both steam and itch.io when the time comes. It's a relief to hear that someone thinks the project will be able to "make it" commercially, and while I'm fairly confident in how the final product will look, I'm also including the $2.00 option for Kickstarter backers specifically for poor college students/people who might not believe in QC, but still want to support the genre. To acknowledge the rest of your post:

1. I'm likewise a hardcore lawful good/lawful neutral player through and through. Actually, because of this, it's harder for me to come up with appropriate "chaotic" responses for players who are inclined to choose those options. That being said, I don't mind "tough and badass" MCs as long as they act in a way that's reasonable for the situation... I've been lucky enough that I haven't encountered many VNs that took the tough badass approach TOO far. And Miranda is my queen.

2. Noted. I feel like the character I have in mind for the additional route will be more interesting as a female, but I won't shove it down anyone's throat if it's not wanted, especially since it'll be my first sojourn into GxG anyway.

3. Oh thank goodness! Haha... I don't want anyone to think I'm cheap, but the shipping fees alone for physical rewards would probably eat me alive...

A beta access is a really good idea for people to backing a game. It has it pros and cons. The pros are that the beta access player do most - if not - all bug/spelling hunting for you and can give you immediately feedback on new content. Which leads me to the cons : You will have to deal with..... hm... some demanding people(who are also make sure to remind you that they gave you money . "You should do this/you should do that. I don't like this/This offends me. Fix it/Take it out." My experience so far with beta access player is that most of them are nice and understanding, so if you think something needs to stay this way because it makes sense to your story, than that's okay.

On another note, I forgot to mention that I like sensible MCs. It's always very frustrating if the MC is very dense and clueless. Guessing half of the story, who is who isn't much fun when your MC just goes "Eh??? No way! I couldn't have known!" ->*Looking at you Dragon Age: Origins, Human Noble Origin*. Another thing that has been milked to death especially by Otome games. Sorry, but this kinda puts me off .

Yeah, if I offer access like that as a reward, I think I'd probably call it "early access" instead of "beta" since the latter implies that I'm looking for creative critique and stuff. I'll have alpha testers for that on a volunteer-only basis beforehand, since I can't in good conscience ask people to test out a possible buggy game for me, not only for free, but as a reward. I might be weird for thinking that, though. Haha... Thanks for your comments, Amberbaum! And LOL at your comments on the Human Noble Origin. I love being Alistair's queen, but human noble is seriously the most tedious origin in the game.

Definitely the politically savvy princess, this is the kind of gameplay I mostly enjoy, everything related to political and social things is so much fun. Although, with this many replayability options, i'll most probably play a different kinds of princess each time.

THIS. I am in LOVE with medieval court politics/intrigue, and it really shows in my writing, unfortunately (or fortunately, I suppose). I'm hoping that some of the "intelligence" dialogue options will have some fun stuff for those inclined. Also, sorry if my comments from here on out begin to lose focus or grammatical correctness. Nyquil's starting to kick in...

I don't go through GxG routes but, that being said, I don't want to be greedy (?) and I think a romance-able lady is a better option as it may make the game more interesting to more people as well as more diverse (if we reach the stretch goal, of course).

Diversity is why I'm definitely leaning toward GxG, but so far, no one has really shown much interest in it. We'll have to wait and see.

For kickstarter rewards some ideas (taken from other kickstarter campaign i've followed) could be: special artwork, artwork of your character with a character of your choice (maybe chibis), a signed thank-you postal, beta access. The character insert is pretty interesting, it could go from a name-drop (like "look Lord/Lady *Your name* has bla bla bla") to an extra character with some dialogue (like someone that bumps into the MC or one of the mains characters and there's some exchange of word) to, even, an ascended extra with their own sprite (?)

I'm trying to avoid promising art, just because it involves more work outside of a already heavy workload for the artist, but I might eventually decide to hire a second artist for this purpose. Then THAT will have to be factored into the budget, and... ugh... my head hurts. For the character inserts, I'll be offering two different tiers: the lower tier will give backers the opportunity to choose the design for a minor character in the game. The character's name, gender and role will be pre-determined, however. For the higher tier, it will be the same deal, only the backer gets to choose name, gender, and the character will be more important, appearing more than once during the story. Both will have sprites.

Well, what more can I say? lol The game presents itself very promising although, of course, i'm trying to control the hype at least until the demo it's released and I can see the gameplay and everything. But yeah I'm really excited, there aren't that many projects with all this features so i'm glad to have found this :3

Haha, thank you! Hope you continue to follow the project, m'dear!

[Kirlett]

This looks so good! It reminds me of Seven Kingdom Princess Problem *-* <3
And that redhead...damn. Haha.

[Zelan]

1. What kind of princess will you be? Kind and compassionate? Wise and politically savvy? Tempestuous and powerful? Something in-between? I dunno man, I'm never sure until I play the game. cx

2. The masses have spoken! An additional character route has been widely requested! Voting time: Should the extra love interest be another guy, or shall we add a romance-able lady for those so inclined? In the end, I would say it's whatever the writers think would be the best idea, but I've always been partial to otome games with mostly dudes and one or two lovely ladies. (The first one that comes to mind is Cute Demon Crashers, if anyone's played that.)

3. Any suggestions for Kickstarter rewards? Please keep them digital if possible! So far, I'm thinking: game download, step-by-step walkthrough guide, backer-designed character insert (the degree of customization depending on story elements and possible backer amount), and downloadable OST. Other suggestions are welcome! Downloadable wallpapers are always cool owo A lot of people also really like being mentioned in the credits (under "Special Thanks" or something). Another idea could possibly be character cameos? This would probably be limited and one of the more pricy rewards, but for x amount of dollars a person could have a character show up in the background of a CG or something like that.

4. Finally, what are your overall thoughts on the game, so far? I need it. Like now. (Read as: Otome games and stat-raising games are always super cool, and this one seems like it'll be great quality and worth my time and money.)

I'd also like to note that I usually stay away from commercial visual novels - not because I think that the creators don't deserve to be paid, but because as a person who is not yet legally an adult pretty much all of my money comes from my parents. In other words, buying anything online is a pain because I have to sit my parents down in front of the computer, convince them to buy the thing for me, and then go through all of the payment screens and blah blah blah. So, instead of tempting myself with things I can't have, as soon as I see commercial I go "NOPE" and immediately do my best to forget about the existence of what I just read. This one is too good to forget, though - so I'm going to get my hands on it one way or another.

[Harmonywish]

I'm a sucker for long haired guys and gosh, Emry, I'm in love owo~ I can't wait to play the demo of this game! It's a true pity that I can't buy it myself, as I'm not a legal adult and my parents have strict rules of online spending =w=. But, I'll definitely see if anyone decides to make a youtube walkthrough about it *w* I'd love to see this!

[LavenderLotte]

Seeing this gain traction is making me happy. I can't wait until it launches.

[Hozrien]

I'll keep a eye on this, especially when the kickstarter comes out because I might end up donating ^_^.

[Agashi]

BACK! And I know I've been heinously remiss in keeping this thread updated, but I wanted to have a more significant update to report first.

UPDATE!

Art - Art is nearly done! The new artist has one (possibly two) more sprites to complete, and then the demo art should be officially good to go.

Writing - Finished the first Teiran encounter, finally! And I also finished writing up the outrageously long Week 4 (at a whopping 14,500 words, this is easily the biggest chunk of writing I've done yet!). Next, I plan to take a breather by tackling a few more stat-raising events before moving on to Week 5.

Coding - Bonesy's hard at work. The next build should incorporate all of the pretty new sprites and expressions, so I'm super excited to be sharing it with a few partners behind the scenes to get their opinions on things so far.

BIG SHOUT OUT to Kirlett (Teiran fan? ), Harmonywish (if you want to see a little bit of the content, you can at least play the demo! Thanks for the kind words!), LavenderLotte (Whether you know it or not, your notes actually really helped me get a handle on Teiran. Glad to see your still around!), Hozrien ( I'll continue to work hard on the demo!). THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT!

1. What kind of princess will you be? Kind and compassionate? Wise and politically savvy? Tempestuous and powerful? Something in-between? I dunno man, I'm never sure until I play the game. cx

2. The masses have spoken! An additional character route has been widely requested! Voting time: Should the extra love interest be another guy, or shall we add a romance-able lady for those so inclined? In the end, I would say it's whatever the writers think would be the best idea, but I've always been partial to otome games with mostly dudes and one or two lovely ladies. (The first one that comes to mind is Cute Demon Crashers, if anyone's played that.)

3. Any suggestions for Kickstarter rewards? Please keep them digital if possible! So far, I'm thinking: game download, step-by-step walkthrough guide, backer-designed character insert (the degree of customization depending on story elements and possible backer amount), and downloadable OST. Other suggestions are welcome! Downloadable wallpapers are always cool owo A lot of people also really like being mentioned in the credits (under "Special Thanks" or something). Another idea could possibly be character cameos? This would probably be limited and one of the more pricy rewards, but for x amount of dollars a person could have a character show up in the background of a CG or something like that.

4. Finally, what are your overall thoughts on the game, so far? I need it. Like now. (Read as: Otome games and stat-raising games are always super cool, and this one seems like it'll be great quality and worth my time and money.)

I'd also like to note that I usually stay away from commercial visual novels - not because I think that the creators don't deserve to be paid, but because as a person who is not yet legally an adult pretty much all of my money comes from my parents. In other words, buying anything online is a pain because I have to sit my parents down in front of the computer, convince them to buy the thing for me, and then go through all of the payment screens and blah blah blah. So, instead of tempting myself with things I can't have, as soon as I see commercial I go "NOPE" and immediately do my best to forget about the existence of what I just read. This one is too good to forget, though - so I'm going to get my hands on it one way or another.

@ Zelan -

1 - That's good, actually. You could always do like I do with these types of games and just play as yourself~!
2 - Oh boy, we're getting closer and closer to the demo's launch, and I'm still not sure which way to go on this. Thank you for your input, though. I'll put you down as a vote for lady
3 - I'm working on implementing the special thanks and character cameos, but the wallpaper idea was something I hadn't considered! That might be really good, thanks!
4 - You are a delight, my dear. Hope the final product meets your expectations, and feel free to give the demo a few whirls when it comes out!

[Lyhra]

Yey, great to know there's more progress with the game! I'm so eager to taste a bite of that demo *O*